Leo SpornstarrMs. Shwom 27 September 2010Freshman Seminar Netflix Everywhere: Sorry Cable, You’re History Over the past few years, Netflix has become one of the most popular movie subscription services in the country. In a sense, it has replaced cable as the source of movies for countless Americans. The article discusses the impact that Netflix has had the movie industry and how it has repeatedly managed to thrive despite the numerous obstacles it faces. Netflix started out as a small company that modeled Blockbuster. It mailed you the movies you wanted directly to your house, so you would be able to avoid the hassle of getting into a car, driving to the store, and picking up the movie. In addition, you could choose which movies you wanted so there would be no guessing as to which movie you were going to watch tonight. But then, in 2007, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, had an ingenious idea, what if he could “embed its (Netflix) streaming-video service into existing devices”. Instead of creating a box that was solely used for Netflix, the software was simply programmed into thousands of household devices ranging from televisions to XBOX360s. This allowed subscribers to not only order DVDs through the mail, but also have instant access to thousands of movies through their TVs, computers, and video game systems. It has led to a new era in movie renting, one of quickness and ease.The main argument in this article is the evolution of movies and TV shows from broadcast and cable television to Netflix. Netflix open a whole new realm of possibility when it comes to viewing movies. Instead of having to arrange your day to watch a movie when it comes onto television, or go to the video store and rent a movie, you can have a substantial collection of movies that can stream directly to your television anytime, anywhere. This allows for anybody to easily access the movies that they want to watch, when they want to watch it. However, the problem is that many companies have contracts in place with cable providers. At first, Netflix was unable to offer many of the popular movies, yet they have figured out a temporary loophole. Instead of having a contract with the movie company or buying the movies itself, Netflix has begun to have direct relations with cable television stations to show the movies that the station owns. Moreover, the cost differential between cable and Netflix is enormous. One family commented on Netflix’s blog “thanks for saving us another $400/year”. The author seems to be in favor of Netflix’s play to become one of the largest movie firms. In addition from the title that blatantly supports Netflix, but he asserts that “time and time again, the company has not only survived, but quietly thrived”. The trick to finally opening up the golden road lies within cracking the exclusive rights that many movie companies have with various channels; for example, “all Warner Bros. movies appear only on HBO, while Sony’s go to Starz”. This has proven to be a serious problem for Netflix as they have no way to get access to movies right after they exit theaters.

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